E. coli, romaine buzz fading?
What is the level of ongoing consumer concern about the E. coli outbreak linked to chopped romaine from the Yuma region?
The CDC first issued news about the outbreak April 13 a week ago, and no brand recall has yet been announced. Has foodborne outbreak fatigue set in yet among the masses without solid news about what went wrong?
Not yet.
Google Trends reports April 20 that the search terms “E. coli romaine” were #38 in the past 24 hours among stories that were trending, just behind Earth Day and ahead of Adolf Hitler.
Top stories relevant to the search were:
- Fortune’s “Consumers Are Getting Conflicting Advice on Romaine Lettuce Safety Amid the Mysterious E. Coli Outbreak”
- From KXAN.com, “Don’t eat the lettuce: E. Coli outbreak expands to 16 states”
- From WBFO, E.Coli Outbreak Linked To Romaine Lettuce Spreads To 16 States”
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., called the CDC to task in a news release from giving what she called “inconsistent advice.”
She wrote a letter April 19 to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Robert Redfield, M.D., and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Scott Gottlieb. The letter told the officials, according to a news release from her office, to “clarify consumer advice related to the E. coli outbreak linked to romaine lettuce.”
“I am alarmed by the inconsistent advice that your Agencies’ have given to consumers,” DeLauro said in the letter. “Consumers and families in my home state of Connecticut, and across the county, are confused as to whether they should avoid all romaine lettuce or just romaine lettuce that was grown in the Yuma, Arizona region. For an outbreak of this size and severity, that kind of confusion is simply unacceptable.”
“At the time of this writing, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) information page for this outbreak offers two bullets of consumer advice,” DeLauro said in the letter. “The first bullet seems to suggest that consumers should avoid all romaine lettuce, while the second implicates only product sourced from the Yuma, Arizona growing region. I urge you to correct this confusion by immediately releasing clear and consistent guidance to consumers.”
In the letter, DeLauro noted that several industry groups have also released their own statements with advice to consumers, which she said “seems in conflict with prior consumer advice from CDC and FDA.”
DeLauro should have prominently mentioned that Consumer Reports has added to the confusion by recommending that consumers avoid all romaine lettuce.
Finally, DeLauro asked federal officials to answer, in writing, four questions she posed about the outbreak by May 7. In shorthand, the questions are:
- What is the status of the outbreak?
- Why hasn’t the source of the outbreak been identified?
- How many facilities in Yuma processed romaine in the last three months? How many have been inspected? How many have been subjected to sampling and laboratory testing?
- Will the FDA commit to naming implicated growers, processors and distributors?
I recently asked the LinkedIn Fresh Produce Industry Discussion Group about what the industry could do better in response to an outbreak. Here are a just a couple of thoughts from the group:
EE My personal opinion: Robust traceability programs and systems from the field through the processing facilities to the customer. The ability to quickly isolate possible compromised product is critical. This will speed up determining the scope of the distribution levels of the identified product, it will better inform and protect consumers and lastly it would protect growers who are not involved with issue. Food safety is everybody’s responsibility. It’s not limited to improving transparency throughout the whole supply chain, everybody plays a part in this... from the grower to the operator.
CC As exemplified by the frequency of leafy green outbreaks, today’s leafy greens food safety system remains flawed. The industry needs to invest in “real time” technology that can identify food borne pathogens within the supply chain. There are a number of real time options coming, the industry needs to get serious about embracing and investing in this type of innovation.
TK: Both the industry and the public need closure on the E. coli outbreak, though DeLauro's creation of the made-up May 7 deadline is not useful. Fading buzz about the outbreak won’t necessarily translate into greater confidence in romaine lettuce by consumers.
